Malik Bendjelloul, the acclaimed Swedish film director behind the Oscar-winning music documentary Searching for Sugar Man has died. He was 36. Police spokeswoman Pia Glenvik told the Associated Press Bendjelloul died in Stockholm late Tuesday, but wouldn't specify the cause of death. She said no crime is suspected in relation to the film maker's death. Police would not say where the body was found and his family confirmed the death. They refused to comment and asked for privacy.
Searching for Sugar Man, which detailed the life and career of American singer Sixto Rodriguez, won the Oscar for best documentary in 2013. He also won the BAFTA, Director's Guild of America, Producer's Guild of America, Writer's Guild of America and Sundance audience award.
Bendjelloul grew up in central and southern Sweden as the child of a painter and a translator. He acted in Swedish TV-series Ebba and Didrik as a child during the 1990s. He studied journalism and media-production at the Linnaeus University of Kalmar in southern Sweden and later worked as a reporter for Swedish public broadcaster SVT. He resigned from that job to travel the world and he got the idea for Searching for Sugar Man during one of his trips. Bendjelloul directed, produced, edited and co-wrote the 2012 film that chronicles two South Africans who set out to find their folk music hero.
